Past Appearances
by MisteryMaiden
Summary: Naruto's been hiding something for years, and after passing the Gennin exams, the young ninja is going to show everyone who she really is. Rated T to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay, as you may have noticed, I have posted a few stories. These stories are ideas that have been sitting in my hard drive for a long time and I decided since I don't know when I can update anything to just post them and decide what to do with them from the responses of you readers. This Author's Note will be on most of the stories, so you'll know which ones I'm talking about.**

**Chapter One: The Genin Teams**

Uzumaki Naruto yawned as the light from the sun reflected in his eyes. Rubbing his hands over his bright, ceruleans eyes, the young genin threw the blank from his body.

Now, to most people, there wouldn't be anything interesting about this display, however, it was what was revealed once the blanket was gone that would make most people faint. Uzumaki Naruto was well known for being a prankster, who had a major crush on Haruno Sakura, a young kunoichi in training. Furthermore, it was well known that the demon child was male. However, without the horrendous orange jacket and pants, the figure of a female was obvious.

Naruto's real name was Uzumaki Naru. The 'to' part had been added when Naru had discover the name of the fishcakes that was in her favorite ramen. It had been her nickname ever since. Most people didn't realize that the young boy was in fact a young girl, and over looked the more feminine qualities she possessed. Not even her favorite sensei, Iruka, had figured it out until he had been told.

Naruto wasn't trying to hide her gender, but in fact, no one looked closely enough to notice. It had been annoying at first, but after a while, she just stopped correcting people and just let them assume what they wanted. It wasn't like that had ever really asked her.

Grabbing her new hitai-ite, Naruto threw on her clothes and brushed her short, spiky, blonde hair. She had cut it short when it had kept getting in the way of her training, and as it had already been spiky on its own, it had spiked right up without the weight of the rest of her hair keeping it down. When jiji had first seen it, she could have sworn he was having a heart attack.

Naruto looked at the time and paled. Shit, she was going to be late! With a burst of speed, she ran out of her door and down the streets of Konoha, ignoring the looks of hate from the villagers. It was a lot easier now that she knew it wasn't her that they were glaring at, but her tenant, the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

Reaching the Academy and her classroom just as the bell rang, Naruto sighed in relief. Iruka smiled as she took her seat, only to be yelled at by Sakura and Ino as they came into the class. Iruka had explained that friends did not yell at each other or that making a female friend did not include asking for dates (apparently, that what those of the opposite gender did). Naruto hadn't blushed so much in her entire life.

"I will now announce the team placements, so listen up everybody! Team one is-" Naruto tuned Iruka out, thinking over whether or not she should tell her team that she was a girl. Meh, maybe she should just let them figure it out for themselves. More interesting that way!

"Team 7: Uzumaki Naru-to," Naruto looked up at her name, and Iruka blushed as he had almost called out Naru, instead of Naruto. "Haruno Sakura," Naruto smiled, maybe they could be friends after all, now that she knew what to do. "And Uchiha Sasuke." Naruto groaned while Sakura cheered. That was just perfect. Naruto didn't know what the other girls saw in the Emo bastard.

While Iruka finished announcing the rest of the teams, the sensei came in one at a time to pick up the others. Soon, only team seven was left, much to their displeasure. Naruto scowled, it had been an hour already, Kami damnit!

Getting bored, and with a strong need for revenge, Naruto stood up and grabbed an eraser for the chalk board. Iruka was obsessed with clean erasers, but the jonin wouldn't know that, so Naruto quickly covered it in itching powder. Hopefully, it would teach the teme to be on time.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Sakura screeched.

"Teaching our bastard sensei a lesson about being late," she called back, using a chair to wedge the eraser in the crack of the door. Naruto pushed a little chakra into the powder to make sure it would stick to the eraser until it hit their sensei. While Naruto's grades weren't that great, Naruto was good at pranks, and therefore, traps.

"Dobe," Sasuke hnned.

"Shut it, teme!" Naruto growled back, why was she stuck with this guy again? Sighing, she sat herself back in her desk and decided to take a nap as she waited.

Two hours later, the sound of feet walking towards them made them all look up. The door opened and the eraser hit the head of a white-haired man that they assumed was their jounin sensei. Rubbing his head, the man gave them a one-eyed smile, causing them to notice his hitai-ite covered his other eye. "My first impression is that…I hate you!"

They sweat dropped. "Meet me on the roof."

Sighing, they made their way up to the roof, where they found their sensei waiting for them.

"State your name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams for the future." The man stated. "I'll go first. My name is Hatake Kakashi. I like things and dislike things. I have many hobbies. I've never really thought about dreams for the future. Now, pinkie."

"My name is Haruno Sakura. I like *squeal*. I hate Naruto!" Naruto blinked; maybe she really had annoyed her teammate a little too much. "My hobbies are *squeal*. My dream for the future *squeal, blush, glance at Sasuke.*"

Kakashi sighed. _Oh, great, a fangirl. Yay!_ "Your turn, duck-butt."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke; the rest is none of your concern." _Yep, this one was a real mister sunshine! Maybe there's still hope for the next one…_

"Your turn, blondie."

"My name's Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen, plants, pranks and Sarutobi-jiji! I dislike duck-butt and people who judge someone before they get to know them! My hobbies are taking care of my plants, cooking, training, and pranking people. My dream is to become Hokage!" Naruto grinned; she had been really truthful during that entire introduction. Maybe they would put one and one together? Then again, probably not. Either way, it was still fun. One of her best pranks!

"Out of the 27 genin that graduated, only 9 will go on to become actual genin. Meet me at training ground 7 to have your final graduation test. Don't eat breakfast either; you'll just throw it up!" Kakashi smiled, before disappearing in a poof of smoke.

Naruto sighed; at least she had already known this. She had looked it up in the shinobi library under a henge and had learned that to pass the teams of genin had to show a good grasp of teamwork. Now, how to get them to work with her…

Noticing that her teammates had both left, Naruto sighed. Then she grinned evilly. Kakashi had left without asking her about the itching powder. She snickered when she heard a familiar voice cursing and decided it would be in her best interest if she went to the training ground early and set up traps everywhere (after all, a good shinobi thinks ahead and plans accordingly). Oh, this was going to be so fun!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Team 7**

Naruto sighed as she was tied to a pole. Damnit all, she had been that close the getting the bells. Her stupid clones hadn't gotten them though, just a bunch of useless crap. And she was hungry to, damnit! It the teme and Sakura hadn't used her traps, they wouldn't have gotten the damn bells either! It was her traps that did the job; she should at least get some of the credit! But no, she was tied to the pole, not the other way around. Life was so unfair.

"Now, who made those traps, anyways?" The singed Kakashi groaned. Oh, he hurt everywhere. Whoever it was shouldn't have been a genin, but maybe a chunin. Sasuke and Sakura shrugged, they didn't do it.

"That would be me." Naruto smirked at her jounin sensei. "I didn't get a bell though, but I got a lot of other stuff!"

The other members of team seven blinked. Kakashi paled. HIS BOOK WAS GONE! "What, when, how?"

Naruto rolled her eyes. "After the teme and Sakura got a bell, I was still fighting you, remember? I only got about 20 kunai, a book, and extra mask, 10 shuriken, some sort of scroll, a first aid kit, some sealing paper; don't know what that was for, and some ninja wire. But the bells were already gone…"

"You're a kleptomaniac!" Kakashi said, while searching through his pouch to find everything gone.

"Nah, not really. If I had been in klepto mode, you would've lost a lost more." Naruto waved her hand as best as she could tied up.

Sighing, Kakashi knew he had to pass them. Even if they didn't knowingly worked together, without Naruto, the team wouldn't have gotten a bell. _Note to self: Never give Naru a reason to prank you._ "You pass. Even though you weren't knowingly working together, you three still used teamwork."

Naruto beamed. She was a genin! Yes! Sakura was having a similar reaction, as was Sasuke (not out loud of course, Uchiha didn't act like that out loud).

"Meet here tomorrow, and we'll get our first mission. Then we'll start training." Kakashi dismissed them.

"Oi! Still tied up here!" Naruto yelled at her sensei. Taking a kunai, Kakashi cut the blonde genin free.

"Oi, Naruto, why do your teammate think you're a boy?" The curious sensei asked.

"Because, like most people, they never actually asked me and just assumed that I was a boy. It gets annoying." Naruto shrugged. "It's fun watching them completely ignore the clues though."

"Well, then, why don't we wait for them to figure it out on their own then. That should prove to be amusing for a while. You're going to have to teach them how you steal things though. You'll have to teach me as well, for that matter, since I wasn't able to even tell that you had done it. That's an amazing accomplishment."

"Not really, I pick-pocketed an ANBU before, and got away with it!" the blonde girl grinned in victory. That ANBU had been ignoring his duty to guard her, and she had sure taken her revenge! Kakashi stared at her before groaning.

"Great. Give the copycat the Uchiha, he'll need the training to use his Sharingan. Let's stick him with one of the Uchiha's fangirls, and the kleptomaniac secret girl of the village. It's what he gets for being late all the time." Kakashi scowled at the grinning girl, who was silently chuckling at his annoyance. Oh well, it made things fun for her.

Ah, fuck. Well, there was no way she was getting out of this one. The Demon Brothers had cornered her. Stupid client lying about the stupid mission. This was just fucking great. Where was her sensei when she needed him!

Sasuke watched in horror as the Demon Brothers cornered his teammate. It seemed as if the blonde dobe had pissed them off when he had called them 'demon wanabes who were playing ninja'. Probably wasn't the best thing Naruto could have said, but he had definitely earned the respect of the raven haired Uchiha (which was impressive, seeing as before this, Sasuke had considered the dobe an utter moron).

"See, this is why you shouldn't be rude to your enemies, Naruto. They tend to get upset with you when you insult them and their status. They are B-rank ninja and you are a genin."

"Aw, shut up, Kakashi-sensei! It's pathetic that they got even a little winded from two genin! And they call themselves Demons? Come on, a demon would have killed us all be now, let alone two of them!" Naruto whined, lacing her fingers through her hair. It was surprisingly soft since it looked like she had spikes on her head. Kakashi just sighed, resigned to the fact that she wouldn't' be changing any time soon.

"Well, Tazuna-san, you have a little explaining to do." Kakashi eye smiled darkly at the man, and his genin team back up very quickly.

"You must be Naruto-san!" Tsunami smiled kindly at the young girl who she believed to be a boy.

"Hai," Naru nodded, feeling a little depressed. "My name's Uzumaki Naruto, are we at Tazuna-obba-san's house?"

"Yes, you are. I'm his daughter, Tsunami. Do you remember what happened?" Tsunami hadn't been sure when she asked the other's on the blond boys team.

"Oh! That freakin' pervert! Wait till I get my hands on him, the masked ass-whole!" Naruto snarled, pissed. "And now the rest of my team knows, too! And I was having so much fun watching them try and figure it out or blatantly ignore the clues!"

_Flashback_

Naruto growled at the enemy nin. A mist shinobi by the name of Momichi Zabuza. The man had ambushed them when they had been walking towards the home of Tazuna.

The man had thrown a sword on them, and before Naruto could move out of the way, he had grabbed the blond girl. By the chest. And was groping her. A tick mark appeared on her forehead.

"You might not want to do that, Zabuza." Kakashi cautioned, looking at the blond in a cautious manner.

Zabuza sneered, "And why-" That was when the man realized the mistake. He paled. That wasn't the chest of a male. The missing ninja looked at the blond in surprise. So, she was a tomboy. Kind of like Haku, but instead of a boy being called a girl, it was a girl being called a boy.

"Naruto, what are you doing you baka?" The other female screeched. Sasuke was observing the scene in surprise. The missing ninja looked weary of his captive for some reason. It was odd, as Naruto was clearly nothing special (completely ignoring the fight between his blond teammate and the Demon Brothers). Naruto on the other hand was red with what looked like embarrassment and glaring exploding daggers at the missing ninja.

"Umm." Zabuza didn't know how to deal with this situation. There were so many things that could go wrong. He remembered Haku's reaction when he had called him a girl. It made him shutter at the thought of what a female could do. Hell hath no wrath like a woman's scorn. **(A/N: I am female, and I completely agree that we are psycho bitches when upset! So anyone who takes offense: deal with it.) **

"Let. GO!" Naruto snarled, and instead of following through with the order, the Demon of the Mist only moved his hand lower. Yep, it got worse.

"PERVERT!" Naruto screamed, and for the first time, Sasuke wondered on something. The way the mist ninja was acting, it was as if Naruto was a… oh fuck. Sasuke turned to Kakashi sensei, eyes wide.

"Oh, you figured it out? Good for you Sasuke!" Kakashi smiled at the Uchiha.

Sakura frowned, "Figured what out?"

Sasuke, however was pale. His rival was a girl, a girl who didn't have a crush on him! And how the hell hadn't he known that? The plants… Naruto had said that she like to take care of her plants. The kunoichi classes that Kakashi had given her. How hadn't he noticed? "Well, I feel kind of feel bad for him now." Sasuke said, looking at the increasingly funny scene of a missing S-ranked ninja being chased by a pissed off kunoichi. Even being the dead last, Naruto had been able to hide the fact that she was female (there was also the subject of her trap making skill, but still). Tazuna looked as if he didn't know whether to be afraid for the missing ninja, wonder why the missing ninja was afraid of the genin, or just laugh.

Kakashi sighed as Zabuza (finally) managed to knock out the raging Naruto.

The missing ninja shook his head. "I said I was sorry! I didn't know!"

Sakura was getting fed up with all of this, "Didn't know what? What the hell do you, Sasuke (surprisingly, she didn't add the –kun) and Kakashi-sensei know that I don't?"

Zabuza blinked, "You're the kid's teammate and you didn't know she was a girl?"

_End Flashback_

**(Kakashi had defeated Zabuza like in the manga after that, and they had brought the unconscious girl back with them to Tazuna's house.)**

"BAKA!" Sakura screamed, as Tsunami stared in shock at the now revealed girl. "How did you not tell us you were a girl? Get that orange jumpsuit off this instant!"

Naru blinked, this wasn't what she had been expecting. Sasuke was still in shock from the realization. Naruto shrugged, and removed her jacket. Once it was off, they caught the sight of a nice figure and a rather well developed chest. "Don't see why it matters, I'm still going kick the teme's butt, dattebayo!"

"You mean, you don't like Sasuke-kun?" Sakura looked relieved, with that figure, Naruto could have gone after the Uchiha if she had wanted.

Naruto made a face of horror, as did Sasuke. "Ew! No way in hell! You'd have to kill me first!"

Kakashi was watching his team in amusement. Finally the question that he had been waiting for came up. "Why is your hair like that?"

Naruto shrugged, "My hair's always been spiky, but when it's longer it gets in my way during training. I cut it and without the extra weight, it just spiked up. I don't really know why."

Sasuke asked his own question, this being the first time he spoke since the conversation started. "Is your name really Naruto?"

Naru frowned, "'Course not! That's just a nickname Sarutobi-jiji gave me since I like ramen so much. My real names Uzumaki Naru. Since I like ramen so much and Naruto is only two letters away from my real name, it kind of stuck." Naru shrugged, this really didn't matter much to her.

"Oh." This was a very awkward moment, before another question came to Sakura's mind, "If you're a girl, then why'd you always ask me out on dates?"

Naruto grinned as well as turning beat red, "Well, I thought that was how you asked someone to hang out with you. Umm, don't worry, Iruka-sensei explained it to me when he found out."

"Oh!" Sakura exclaimed, eyes glowing with realization. "You wanted to hang out with me! That makes much more sense! Of course I'll hang out with you! I can help you pick out a new outfit. It could hide that you're a girl, but not be so orange!"

Naruto beamed. "Yes! I'm not good with shopping, and this was the cheapest thing I could afford at the time. I don't try to hide that I'm a girl, you know, so that's not really a problem, though it would be funny to see the other's reactions. We'll do that when we get back to Konoha!"

"I need to teach you about conditioner as well! Your hair would be much prettier if you grew it out. I'll lend you some hair ties so that you can tie it back!" Sakura looked over joyed at having a new female friend. Even if she was a tomboy.

"Conditioner? It may be a little better if I grew my hair back out. It's kind of ridiculous that your enemies don't even know that you're a girl, and have to grope you to find out." It was clear that Naruto didn't appreciate being groped.

"So, about your sexy no jutsu, what's that all about?" Sasuke had to ask, the girl talk was getting to him. Sure he knew Naru didn't have any female friends, but that didn't make him feel any less uncomfortable (he was male, kami damn it!).

"Oh, that? That's just a Henge showing what I'll look like when I turn twenty." Naruto waved her hand dismissively, not noticing the astonished looks on her team's faces. "Iruka-sensei taught us that, but I changed the name so that no one could put two and two together. I mean, what a funny prank that was, Iruka-sensei fainted when he learned what it really was."

"You, are the most deceptive kunoichi I know." Kakashi shook his head, and Naruto grinned at the praise.

Sakura put on a thoughtful look. "You know, you could tell Ino that you're a girl. She'd probably jump at the chance to help you shop, and then you'd have two friends who're girls!"

Naruto blinked, she hadn't even thought of asking her fellow blond kunoichi. It made a little sense though. It was a well-known fact that Ino loved to shop. Naruto smiled.

"Not to break up this girl moment, but with Zabuza still alive, and with the hunter ninja as back up, we need to start training." Kakashi never stopped smiling during this entire sentence. Damn it, they needed to know what was under that mask! Maybe another time though.

The three teammates sighed, resigned to not knowing what in the world was under their teacher's mask.

Haku looked at the boy that was sleeping under a tree in the forest. The young ice shinobi wasn't sure whether to wake him or whether to kill him. Oh, if only Zabuza-sama was here. He would know what to do. Not for the first time, Haku cursed his kind heart, and knelt to wake the boy up.

"Huh?" The groggy boy rubbed his eyes, looking uncertainly at the seemingly girl in front of him. "Who're you?"

"Haku," He wasn't sure why he gave his real name. "You shouldn't sleep on the ground like that. Are you a ninja?"

"Hmm," Naruto looked at the boy. Being a girl often called a boy she could easily tell this was a male, not a female. "Yep! Thanks for waking me up, Haku-kun!"

Haku blinked in surprise, "You know?"

"Of course! If I called you a girl, I'd been just as bad as the people calling me a boy all the time." Naruto smiled, and frowned, "Damn, it sure warmed up, didn't it?" The young kunoichi shook off her top in annoyance. Haku was surprised to see the figure of a female come into view.

Haku just smiled at her, and noted that Zabuza should be informed. (Note: Haku was not watching the fight until Kakashi stepped in, so he had no idea that Naruto was a female.) "Do you have someone precious to protect?"

Naruto smiled gently, and in that moment it was clear to the world that she was female. "Of course. I have Sakura-chan, the teme, Kakashi-sensei, and Sarutobi-jij!" Haku blinked at the very small list of people the kunoichi had named, then again, he only had Zabuza-sama, so he couldn't very well talk.

"Then you know what it means to truly be strong." Haku smiled. Naruto grinned back. As Haku walked away from the young girl, he was stopped when he heard Naruto called out.

"See you later, Hunter-kun!" Haku spun around, wide eyed, to find the girl already gone, with nothing to show that she had ever been there.

Zabuza sighed in relief when it was apparent the girl hadn't yet arrived at the bridge. It was one thing if she was just an enemy, it was totally another if she was a kunoichi who he had accidently groped. Not one of his best moves, either, he had to say. That girl was fucking scary when angry, and he planned on _not_ pissing her off anytime soon.

Haku was relieved as well, this meant that he wouldn't have to kill the young blond. It was refreshing to know that there was someone out there not so different from him, even with the mistaking of gender. That wasn't his favorite part at all, no doubt about it. He never wanted to know that it was possible to mistake a female for a male. Zabuza-sama had even admitted that you didn't want to do that to this girl as, and he was quoting this, 'She is fucking scary, I said I was sorry! I thought she was a guy! I didn't know I was groping her!'

Haku thought that Zabuza's fear of this girl was amusing, as he was known as the Demon of the Mist, and had every skill that could possibly kill the girl. Their thoughts were interrupted by the scream of: "Pervert!"

"Ah, Naru's here." Kakashi said, shaking his head. "You really pissed her off, Zabuza. I mean, even Sakura isn't happy with you."

"PERVERT! PERPARE FOR THE WORST FUCKING BEATING OF YOUR MISERABLE LIFE. NOT ONLY DID YOU GROPE ME, BUT YOU FUCKING TOUCH THERE! THERE! I WILL BEAT YOU INTO THE NEXT WORLD!" There was one thing Kakashi was sure of, and that was that Naruto had inherited her mother's personality, she even threw in the random dattebayo here and there.

Zabuza paled completely, before backing up in uncertainty. Haku chuckled at the frightened expression on the missing ninja's face. It was almost if he thought the kunoichi was going to murder him (though, from her words, this was a good guess). They proceeded to watch a review of the earlier battle. By the time Kakashi stepped in, most of the people watching were roaring in laughter and making a mental note that they should never get Naruto mad at them (as it was apparent that years of pranking Anbu had not been in vain, as the missing ninja had been hit by various combinations of her old pranks with weapons in the place of the usually harmless material).

Kakashi was smiling at the reminder of Kushina (he could almost feel the blond channeling her mother's spirit). It was quite amusing, thinking about it. Zabuza stared at the blond, who was fuming in Kakashi's (carefully placed, as not to accidently grope her) grip. "You have two choices Zabuza. One; you leave peacefully and don't come back. Two; you fight and I let Naru go after you. Your choice."

"That's not much of a choice, Kakashi. I either choose to fight and get paid, or I leave to avoid getting killed by that little monster and lose out on my pay for this job," Zabuza muttered. "Give me a minute to discuss this with Haku."

"I think you should go with the safer option. You were right when you said that that girl was terrifying when upset. We can do another job later," Haku whispered to the missing ninja. Zabuza nodded, that was what he had been thinking as well. There was nothing worse than being on an angry kunoichi's hit list; he liked living thank you very much.

"I believe it is time for a strategic retreat," Zabuza said in a louder voice for the other ninja present to hear them. Before anything else could be said, a short, pudgy man showed up with a group of mercenaries. The man seemed shocked to see that they weren't fighting and hadn't been hurt at all. In fact, he seemed rather nervous about this development.

"What are you doing here, Gato?" The Demon of the Mist snarled, he knew exactly why the bastard was here. "Don't answer that, I already know what you're going to say. Consider yourself no longer my employer."

"Have fun, little monster! If you think I'm a pervert, you haven't met this guy yet!" Zabuza had to force back hysterical laughter as both of the present kunoichi looked murderous. Oh, he had to see this.

Kakashi sighed, resigned to the fact that he was on a team with two very short tempered girls (one of whom was a terrifying as her mother before her). He also made a mental note that Naruto cackled when extremely pissed. Sasuke was just praying to whatever deity out there that they never turned that anger onto him. Tazuna had no restraint and just roared with laughter. Haku was chuckling and after a while, decided this was pointless, even if Zabuza had thought that it was fun. A well-aimed senbon to the crime lord's neck killed the man instantly, leaving the mercenaries to flee in the opposite direction (they knew when or not to retreat, and this was a time to retreat!).

"See you later, little monster; Konoha shinobi!" Zabuza called out as he and the masked ninja disappeared into thin air.

"Well, that was interesting," Kakashi chuckled. "It seems that in order to win a battle, we just have to sick an angry Naruto on a person."

Sasuke groaned, "And let's hope that we never end up on the receiving end of that anger!"

Tazuna merely laughed some more.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Well, I hadn't expected the responce to the stories I posted to be so big. This is the third chapter of Past Appearances, and I can only hope you aren't disappointed. If you've read my other stories, you'll know that this is part of a bulk 'clean out my hard drvie' thing. I won't be working on them as much as I would have liked originally. I only had a little bit more to go for this chapter, so I decided to be nice. Don't expect regular updates.**

**Chapter Three: Back to Konoha!**

It had been a good three weeks since then, and they had already finished the bridge and headed back to Konoha. Sasuke had been careful when provoking Naruto, and made sure not to get on the girls nerves as much as he used to. Kakashi found this rather amusing for a reason unknown to the rest of Team 7. When asked, the man just sighed, shaking his head in amusement before ignoring them completely. This, originally, had bothered them, but they had come to expect the treatment from their annoying sensei.

"What mission are we doing now, Kaka-sensei?" Naruto asked excitedly, and Kakashi had to force himself not to moan at the nickname she had bestowed upon him. It was slightly annoying but at least, he reminded himself, it wasn't as bad as what Kushina-chan had come up with when she had been alive.

"No mission today, I'm afraid," Kakashi smiled fondly. "I have some good news for you all though. I've signed you up for the Chunin exams!" Kakashi brought the forms for the entry form behind his back, all the while enjoying their stunned expressions. "You only need to read over and fill out these forms before this time tomorrow. The forms need to be turned in at the academy, where you'll then go on to participate in the first test of the exam. Good luck!" With that said and done, the white haired ninja disappeared from sight, having shunshined away.

The three were left gaping at the place where he had been, before Naruto squealed in delight and grabbed a form. Sasuke shook his head, wondering once again why he had never figured out that the kunoichi was a girl. Sakura had a fond smile on her face. Over the past three weeks, she had taught Naruto how a female was expected to act (and speak, since that had been a problem when Naru had asked her out on 'dates'). Of course, Naruto wasn't going to change that much, but moments like this, she acted just like a girl.

The first thing that they had changed had been the kill me orange jumpsuit. Sakura was adamant about getting rid of that immediately. It was no wonder everyone thought the younger girl to be and young boy. She dressed and looked like one! Sakura had also convinced her that she should regrow out her hair a little more, as to help a little with the misconceptions. Naruto had been hesitant at first, but when Sakura told her it didn't have to be any longer than shoulder length, the fellow female had agreed. If any of their other classmates had come along, they would still assume that Naruto was male. Sakura hadn't yet been able to convince her to get rid of a jacket entirely (it was a crime to hide her build), but Naruto had been set on getting another jacket. Naruto, in place of her old jumpsuit, was wearing a beautiful sky blue muscle shirt (one that matched her eyes), covered by a darker blue jacket, that was the same size as her old one and hung off her just the same. With this, she was wearing easily moveable pair of pants that matched the color of her jacket. Remarkably, the colors still (like when she wore neon orange) didn't hinder her ability to hide. Around the edges of both her jacket and her pants was a soft white trim. Sakura thought that it really did the girl justice.

The week after they went shopping, Sakura had changed both her and Sasuke's outfits. Sasuke had kept the Uchiha clan symbol, but other than that, he was now wearing a dark black muscle shirt with a gray-green jacket (to help for camouflage) and gray-green pants that matched it. The jacket was currently tied around his waist, hiding the weapons pouch on his back hip. He had used medical tape for the ends of his pant legs and was wearing pitch black sandals.

Sakura had forgone the pink dress she had worn as it only got in the way. While her teammates wore dark colors, she had chosen a beautiful white and black shirt, with a black pair of pants with white leg cuffs. Like her teammates, she had chosen to get a black and white jacket to match. Currently, the jacket was wrapped around her waist as well, as if was too hot (for anyone but Naruto) to wear a jacket.

All in all, their appearances had changed greatly. Sakura had even chosen to cut her hair to shoulder length and hid the pink monstrosity behind a completely black bandana that had the leaf hitai-ate stitched into hit. Naruto had been impressed with her change and had offered to take her picture for her (Sakura had been trying to figure out how she was going to accomplish this without asking a male, momentarily forgetting Naruto's gender once again). They had latter decided to retake their team photo, keeping both in a photo album for such things.

The other two teammates picked up their forms as well. They had been practicing without end for the last few weeks, along with their other changes. Sakura might have once thought herself not to be ready, but Naruto had them a lot in the trap making and thieving areas of being a ninja, while Sasuke had helped them with their jutsu, and Sakura herself teaching them genjutsu. Kakashi had been stunned when he had learned, but quickly began to correct minor mistakes the other's made and after a while, had expressed his pride in them.

They were going to give this test a run for their money.

Naruto had been walking home when she had watched Konohamaru run into a foreign ninja. Sand village, judging from their hitai-ate. Kono (her nickname for him), was alone, and looked to be hiding from his friends (playing ninja, no doubt), and hadn't been paying attention to wear he was going.

"Kono!" Naruto yelped when the foreign ninja grabbed the boy by his shirts neckline. "Put him down!"

The ninja looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "And what are you going to do, make me?"

Naruto scowled, annoyed at their ignorance of the now alerted Anbu that guarded the kid. "Ah, no, but the Anbu might if you don't put the honorable grandson down! Now!"

Kono was immediately dropped, and the foreign ninja's teammate paled. "I am so sorry, Kankuro is such an idiot. My name's Temari, thanks for the warning."

"Names' Naruto, and no problem, I know how annoying Kono can get, but the Anbu wouldn't take kindly to foreigners hurting him."

"Naruto-nii-san!" Kono whined. "I'm not annoying!"

Temari raised an eyebrow; this kid didn't look to be the kids' brother. "Oh, we're not related," Naruto knew what she was thinking._ If we were, he'd know I wasn't a boy_, she thought privately. "He just calls me that because I hang out with him once in a while."

Temari smiled and nodded. She seemed to like this boy, though she didn't know why. Kankuro was still sulking, before a rock hit him in the head. They all looked up to see a redhead boy with a gourd on his back standing in a tree. "Stop sulking, it's your own fault, picking a fight with a seven year old."

Kankuro immediately paled, along with Temari. Naruto frowned, because he was positive the fox shouldn't be reacting this way to the boy. It was unusual for Kyuubi to do anything but watch the world through Naruto's eyes. Naruto felt the connection click. This boy was just like her, otherwise Kyuubi wouldn't be reacting like the way he was.

"Sorry Gaara," Kankuro whispered, afraid. The newly named Gaara merely glared at him, before turning his attention to Naruto.

"Who are you?" Naruto narrowed her eyes at the question, cautious despite their similar situations.

"Uzumaki Naruto, at your service," Naruto flashed him a grin. For some reason, she wondered if the fellow jinchuuriki would realize that she was female. For a moment, there was nothing but silence, before Gaara nodded. Vaguely, Naruto felt disappointed when he hadn't guessed, but she pushed that reaction back. It wasn't as if he was the only one.

"Naruto-nii!" Kono whispered urgently. "Let's go!"

"Alright, Kono." Naruto said, feeling her sisterly side come out. It wasn't out very often, but she was very protective of the young boy. Kankuro was lucky that he had dropped her adoptive brother (she couldn't wait to see his face when he discovered her gender) when he did. She turned to look at the Suna ninja. "I'll see you in the exams."

Before they could respond, Naruto picked up Kono, put him on her back, and raised him to the park before that idiot, perverted teacher noticed his pupil was gone again.

Naruto smiled as she saw the other members of the rookie nine were there. Shikamaru looked bored, but she knew he was appraising their new looks. Choji was chatting happily with her and Ino and Sakura were fighting over a depressed looking Sasuke. Kiba and Akamaru had joined her and Choji's conversation, while Shino was standing next to Shikamaru. Hinata looked rather faint, causing Naruto to be rather concerned.

Naruto was pleased to noted that the Suna ninja from before were standing further in the room. Gaara noticed her and gave her a brief nod. Naruto noticed the other two stare in shock at the redhead. Naruto was pretty sure she knew why, after all, not all jinchuuriki were sane, but she also knew now that another jinchuuriki's presence felt like family when close together.

Their conversation was stopped when a large man followed by a few chuunin stepped into the room. The man was wearing black and had a bandana covering his head, but his face was visibly scarred. Naruto watched the new comers warily, and nearly jumped when the man spoke.

"Alright, Gaki's. Welcome to hell."

**A/N: I know, I'm so mean. ;) Don't hate me, but be glad I updated so soon. I can't wait to hear more responces. Remember, reviews a happy author makes! If authores are happy, we update more! **

**REVIEW!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: Hell and Back**

An hour later, Naru was ready to make the man scream by hitting his sore spot and making him sing soprano for a week. Ibiki was a cruel and horrible man. Though, Naruto had already known this from the way Anko-nee-san had talked about him. Most people weren't aware of it, but with Anko acting out all the time and nobody willing to watch the young Naru, the Hokage had assigned her babysitting as a punishment for the odd kunoichi. That had eventually backfired on him when Anko decided she like the young aspiring kunoichi and got in trouble more often just to train her.

Let's just say the look on the old man's face was priceless when he realized what was going on.

But, still, that Ibiki bastard didn't need to make them suffer through an hour long written test only to freak them out into quitting with a fake ultimate question! Gah!

Naruto sighed, she was so tired, and Anko-nee didn't look to be shutting up anytime soon. Naruto had to wonder if her surrogate sister would even notice that she was even there. Nope, it seemed that she hadn't noticed her yet, but with the way Anko was now looking at each and every gennin, she was bound to get noticed soon. Anko was looking at the person next to her now. Anytime now…

"AH!" Anko screeched. Yep, Naruto had been spotted. Anko, in a flourish of movement, was now standing on her desk. "Look who's here! I was wondering why I haven't been able to find you! The nerve of you, not telling me that you had entered the exam! You should know that this means war!"

"Anko-nee, this is the exact reason why I didn't inform you!" Naruto yelled. She could feel all the questioning eyes on her. "Knowing you, you'd go out of your way to do something the bring attention to the fact that I know you, and that's exactly what you did!"

Sakura looked between the two in uncertainty. "You know her, Naruto?"

Naru scowled, "Yep, Jiji used to assign her as my babysitter to punish her for whatever she had done at the time. I think that it was completely unfair, since it was mostly punishing me…"

"That hurts," Anko sniffed. "It really does."

Naruto did the mature thing and stuck her tongue out. Anko retaliated by tackling her. Of course, Naruto lost and was soon dragged to the window by the triumphant Anko. "Alright kiddies, you'd better follow me and you'd better keep up. Those you fall behind fail!" With that, Anko jumped out the window with an excessively cursing Naruto.

Sasuke just sighed, "Of course she'd know the crazy ones…"

Sakura sweat dropped and nodded. It was no wonder why Naruto hadn't known how a proper lady was supposed to act with someone like that babysitting her. The Hokage should have known better than to let Naruto near someone like that.

* * *

Anko didn't stop until they were outside of what Naruto and every other member of Konoha recognized as the infamous Forest of Death. They all turned to look at the Chuunin in disbelief.

"Here! The exam is here!" Ino screeched in her best 'Sasuke-kun voice', though there was a noticeable tone of fear laced in the usually (supposedly) sweat voice. The other Konoha gennin mumbled in agreement, leaving the foreigners very confused as to why this was such a big issue.

"The Forest of Death is one of Konoha's most dangerous training ground. The entire forest is filled with mutated creatures and dangerous plants. The entire thing is a death trap and not even most Jounin will go in there for any reason." Kabuto stepped forward, holding a card in his hand. Naruto assumed that this was one of his chakra cards that he had shown them earlier.

All of the foreign ninja paled. Ah, shit.

Anko laughed manically. Oh, this was going to be fun.

* * *

By the end of the first hour, Naruto was cursing her luck. Of course she would get eaten by a snake. That was just how things went, and it didn't help that foxes and snakes where mortal enemies. Sometimes she hated the Kyuubi.

"That's it!" Naruto was fed up with this by now. "Multi Shadow clone jutsu!" **(A/N: Normally I would try and do all the jutsu in Japanese, but I just don't have the time to look up each and every Japanese translation, so you'll all just have to deal.)**

Needless to say, the snake threw her up. "Ugh," Naru shuddered, "Gross!"

Shaking off the need to go take a shower immediately, Naruto headed back in the direction that she knew he team was. If that crazy snake had been a summon like she suspected (Anko had summoned enough for her to tell the difference) then they were all in trouble. Anko wouldn't have left a summon in hear, and the only other summoner on the contract was Orochimaru.

Anko had warned her many times about the crazy pedophile, and Naruto suppressed a shiver of disgust. She was also pretty sure that she knew what the insane man was after: Uchiha Sasuke's Sharingan. For the man who wanted to learn all the jutsu in the world, obtaining the Sharingan was the only thing that made sense to have the Snake Sannin in Konoha, during the Chuunin Exam, with the last Uchiha participating. It didn't exactly take a lot of brain power to figure it out, really.

The snake had another thing coming if he thought that he'd be able to pull a fast one on them! Well, her anyways… Naruto pulled out the device that Anko had given her for emergencies like this. She had only used it once before, and that had been a test round ordered by Anko. Since then, she had never needed it. It was a type of seal that could be activated as many times as needed, and it could only be activated by her blood and chakra. Anko had never told her where she had gotten it, but the older kunoichi had said that it had been approved by the Hokage, so Naruto hadn't bugged her again about it.

Naruto bit down, hard on her finger, enough to draw blood, before focusing chakra on the appendage. Quickly, she swiped the finger across the seal, making sure that it was glowing violent red, before storing it inside her weapons pouch. Now all she had to do was get Sasuke and Sakura to follow her.

By the time that she actually found her team, Sasuke was the only one standing, Sakura having paced out from the KI. Naruto cursed her more feminine teammate. This was not the time to be weak! Sasuke wouldn't last much longer, either, she saw. Sighing, the kunoichi brought out a kunai and threw it at the sannin, praying that it would cause enough of a distraction that Sasuke would get the message and take Sakura and run.

And thank Kami, the Uchiha spotted her and nodded. Naruto was ready to jump for joy. Anko would be here soon, and all Naruto had to do was play dodge the psychopath until she was able to track them. Tracking them shouldn't take long either, since Orochimaru was the only one who really smelled like snakes around. Yep, nothing to worry about.

Yeah, right…

**(A/N: Basically, the fight goes the same way it does in the anime. The reason why Anko didn't show up will appear later. Sorry, but I wanted to get this chapter up and I didn't have the patience to write the scene from the anime out.)**

* * *

Naru panted, her eyes glazed from the pain in her abdomen (not that kind, perverts!). She couldn't understand what was going on here or why Ino was cutting Sakura's hair. Naru cocked her head. Maybe Sakura had finally realized that long hair wasn't the best idea in the life of a ninja? If that was the case, remembering how she had reacted to that before, Naruto was terrified to know what had happened once she had passed out.

Sasuke was standing over by Shikamaru and Choji, and seemed somewhat sheepish and a little unsure. Naruto wasn't sure, but something seemed to have happened, something that greatly affected her team, while she missed it! That was so unfair! Why was it always her that was missing the important things like this! Ugh!

Grumbling, Naruto sat up, a silent question on her lips. Stopping for a moment, she seemed to think better of asking what she had been going to. It wouldn't be beneficial if she stirred up some angst on the team right now. They still needed to get to the Tower. For once, Naruto was grateful of her pick pocketing abilities that had managed to get her the scroll the 'enemy' had left and that Ino had picked up. Not that they needed to know that, but still.

"What's the matter, Naruto?" Shikamaru asked his blonde friend, a little worried about the blonde being so silent. Usually, the silence meant that he was planning something, but Shikamaru was almost certain that was not the case.

"I'm wondering why my team is still standing," Naruto replied after a few seconds, causing Sasuke and Sakura to look her way. Shikamaru gave her an alarmed look, as did the other couple teams in the clearing, that she had previously overlooked.

"Why wouldn't they be?" Neji didn't like the tone the blond had used. It was almost as if she had expected to be dead. Was that why both she and the Uchiha had been knocked out, a fight with a powerful ninja, maybe?

Sasuke and Sakura frowned. "Yeah, you're right!" Sakura exclaimed, eyes widening. "Why didn't that wackoo just kill us? We were so far out matched!"

Ino was staring at her friend, more than slightly alarmed. She had been that close to never being able to apologize, or see her again?

Naruto looked at her team, "Are you two serious?! You don't know who that 'wackoo' was? I thought, you of all people would know!"

Sasuke froze, something nagging at the back of his mind. "He summoned…Fuck!"

Naru shook her head. "Ding, ding! The teme's figured it out!"

"Uchiha," Neji drawled a warning in the soft voice. He had a feeling that he wasn't going to like this.

"He summoned a snake," Sasuke whispered. "I don't know how I didn't realize it; we need to get to the tower now!"

"Why?" Choji asked, alarmed, and not putting the pieces together.

"Because Orochi-fucking-Maru is in the exam," Naruto snapped, looking at her seal in worry. Anko should have showed up as soon as it was activated. Was she okay? Immediately the three teams took off, heading towards the tower at high speed. This was not good, and Naruto know for a fact that there was something else going on here than just an exam. There wouldn't be any other reason for Orochimaru to show up otherwise.

It didn't take long to reach the tower, and with both teams having all their scrolls, they didn't even hesitate in opening them. Smoke surrounded the gathered genin, before showing Gai, Kakashi, and Asuma before them.

"What's happened?" Kakashi asked looking at his team's serious faces. Sasuke spit out the situation, Sakura and Naruto throwing in their observations and versions of the events. When asked why the other teams were there as well, Team Gai and Team Nine quickly explained. They were escorted further into the tower while their sensei left to inform the Hokage of the situation.

Sighing, the teams said their goodbyes and each headed into a different room, Team Seven's room and Team Nine's sharing a bathroom. Nobody thought anything of it until the next morning.

* * *

The shriek that woke Sakura and Sasuke was unmistakably made by Naruto.

"Get Out!" There was a slam of the door, and then silence. Eye's widening, Sakura realized that the bathroom was conjoined. Either Shikamaru or Choji had just gotten the shock of their life.

Ino and Choji stared at Shikamaru. Their friend and teammate was bright red, and sitting of the floor, the imprint of a hand on his face. "What happened to you?" Ino chuckled. "Walk in on Sakura?"

"Nope," Shikamaru replied weakly. "Did you know Naruto was a girl?"

Ino chocked. "Naruto's a _what_?"

"A girl," the poor Nara was still in shock, "And a very frightening one, at that! She also slaps _really_ hard."

The bathroom door opened, revealing a laughing Sasuke and Sakura and a blushing Naruto. Ino really looked at the blond, and wondered how she hadn't noticed the feminine nature before. Maybe it was the jacket and lack of manners that made it hard to tell?

"Sorry Naruto!" Shikamaru squeaked, hiding behind Choji, who was staring at Naruto in shock. The young kunoichi hadn't put on her jacket, and her figure was visible to everyone looking. She was scarlet, but nodded her acceptance of the apology to Shikamaru.

"Wow, Naruto! I wouldn't have pegged you for being so filled out!" Ino whistled. "That jacket doesn't do you justice!"

Naruto blushed some more and gave a weak smile. She really hadn't been expecting Shikamaru when she went to get dressed this morning. Of course, he had covered his eyes right away, and she knew she had overreacted, but at least he wasn't perverted like Zabuza. She wasn't used to being complemented on her looks, though.

"Yep," Sakura smiled. "It was a shock to us to."

Sasuke turned a nice shade of red at the memory of accidently kissing the young girl at the team placements. That memory was far more embarrassing now that he knew his teammate was female, and _hadn't_ been trying for a kiss, much to his relief.

Ino looked at Sakura, "You picked out her new outfit, didn't you?"

Naruto answered for her teammate. "I'm not good with picking out clothes," she admitted. "Sakura said that she'd help me out."

Ino nodded; that made perfect sense to her. "Why is your name Naruto?"

Naru grinned, "Jiji gave me that nickname, because I like ramen so much. My name's Uzumaki Naru, not Naruto. The nickname just stuck and then everyone was calling me that, so I just stopped correcting people."

"Oh," Choji said. "Why was your hair to short?"

Naru snorted, "It got in the way of training, so I cut it and it spiked right up without the extra weight of the rest of my hair. Sakura said she'd lend me some hair ties is I grew it to at least shoulder length."

Shikamaru frowned, "Sexy no Jutsu?" He deadpanned.

Shrugging, Naruto replied, "The henge Iruka-sensei taught us to show what we'd look like when we're twenty. I only changed the name so that I could prank him without him knowing it was something he actually taught."

Ino snickered, while the boys gaped. "That's kind of funny. A lot funnier than it was when I thought you were a boy."

"Thank you," Naru smirked, the last of her blush fading.

"Who all knows you're a girl?"

"Kakashi-sensei, Sakura, Sasuke, Anko-nee, Jiji, the Pervert, Haku-kun, Inari, Tsunami, Tazuna-obaa, and you guys," Naruto listed, counting them off one by one.

"Hello every…one…" Asuma stared at the gathered group, ignoring Kakashi's snickering.

Naru grinned, "And now your sensei knows too!"

They laughed, while Asuma was wondering how he had missed this.

* * *

It was only a few days until the second exam ended. The entire rookie nine had made it through, to the surprise of everyone in the exam. Kiba, Hinata, and Shino were the last to show up, much to their chagrin. They were even more upset when they realized that Naruto's team had been there for a few days, well, at least Kiba was. Hinata was rooting for her crush and Shino was just neutral.

They were all gathered in an arena, each team in lines, listening to the Hokage lecture them on what it was to be a shinobi. Naru tuned him out, having heard this lecture every month since she was little. She could probably quote him, and would have if she wouldn't have gotten into trouble for it.

"You will now participate in a preliminary round before proceeding to the final round of the Chunnin Exams." The examiner called out, having taken over and finished the Hokage's speech. "As your name is called, make your way down to the stadium floor!"

Naru walked up the stairs, right next to the Suna ninja whose brother had tried to hurt Kono. "Hello," she said happily. "Your brother hasn't caused any more trouble, has he?"

The genin gave her a surprised look. "No," he stated. "I have made sure of it."

Naru grinned at him, "I bet that was hard. He looks like a hotheaded one! Not that I have any room to talk."

Gaara, she remembered his name was, looked at her, almost uncertain. "Why do you converse with me?"

Naruto held in a snort, "If you asked my team, they'd tell you I'd talk to a tree if it'd listen. Truth is, you looked lonely."

Gaara gave her a slightly amazed look, before letting a small smile adorn his face. This Konoha shinobi was interesting, and far stranger than anyone he'd ever met before. Maybe, he thought, she might be worth not killing.

Kankuro and Temari were gaping at the Konoha genin talking to Gaara. They gaped even harder when Gaara smiled, the turn of his lips only noticeable because they knew him so well. Did Gaara actually like this guy? They noticed the kid's teammate's shaking their heads, a small smile on their faces.

"That's a first," the girl commented. "I don't think I've ever seen Naruto that open with someone."

The raven haired boy nodded, "Not anyone except the Hokage."

"Your teammate's antisocial?" Temari asked, not bothering to hide that she was listening in.

"Ha!" Sakura laughed. "Not if you don't know her. The rest of the village would look at you weirdly if you said Naruto was antisocial. No, she just doesn't trust people or open up much."

Temari nodded, but Kankuro paused. "Did you say _'she'_?" Temari stopped dead, before studying to blond up ahead.

Sasuke nodded, "Yep, but not many people know that she's a girl. They tend to assume she's a guy, even people in Konoha."

Well, the two siblings thought, at least Gaara wasn't killing her.

* * *

Naru was enjoying talking to Gaara. The redhead was interesting, and rather sarcastic, which made the conversation just that much more fun. He was just rather scarred from the people of Suna, almost the same way Naru was scarred by Konoha.

"Please," she waved her hand in front of her face at something Gaara had told her. "If that makes you a monster, what does that make me, a giant fox with anger issues?"

''**I do not have anger issues!''** Said giant fox protested.

'_Yes, you do.'_ Naru deadpanned to her tenant.

Gaara stared at her, "You are…like me?"

Naru just smiled. "Yep, only difference is since the younger generation don't know, they form their opinions on my character after meeting me, not before."

"**Listen to my host, young ningan."** Kyuubi commented. **"She does know what she's talking about, most of the time."**

"**Kurama?"** Another demonic voice asked. **"You got sealed too?"**

"**Shut it, Shukaku! You were sealed first, so I still win!" **Kurama growled. Naru wondered if he met they had a bet of some kind, but didn't question it. Gaara was rather alarmed at the fact there was another voice in his mind.

"You hear them too?" he asked, wide eyed.

"Yep," Naru snorted. "You'd think that the all-powerful bijuu wouldn't bicker like children."

Gaara nodded in agreement. It was a relief to hear their mother talk about something other than blood though. He was about to say something when Naruto's name was called.

"Inuzuka Kiba v.s. Uzumaki Naru...?" The Proctor frowned at the machine. Why had it not finished the Demon Child's name?

Naru jumped down to the stadium, Kiba right after her. Sasuke and Sakura smirked at the Inuzuka's bad luck, knowing that he was probably going to say or do something to set her off. Kankuro and Temari were hoping Gaara wouldn't go on a rampage if the kunoichi was hurt.

Kiba smirked, "I won't need your help with this one, Akamaru! There's no way we'll loss!"

Naru narrowed her eyes, wondering why people seemed to underestimate her when they thought she was male. What was it about her being female that made them give her more credit! It didn't make sense! "Don't bet on it, Dog Breath!" Naru growled. She narrowed her eyes further when he looked at the board and laughed.

"Look, even the machine doesn't get your name right! It thinks you're a girl! Ha, like you could ever pass as a girl!" Kiba laughed, not noticing the dangerous ground he was imposing on. "You're far too brash and loud to be a girl! Plus, you're not pretty at all!"

Yep, Kiba had crossed the line. He never even saw the punch that sent him into the wall. The stadium was silent, not sure what had set the jinchuuriki off.

* * *

Kakashi looked at Kurenai, "You realize Naru's going to kill him, right?"

Kurenai blanched, "Naruto actually is a girl?!"

Kakashi nodded, "Yep, and she's pissed at the moment."

"Great," Kurenai groaned. "I'll have to talk to him about pushing it with his insults."

Kakashi nodded, "Good, because last time she was only mildly upset, Momochi Zabuza went running in the opposite direction, and right now, she's more than mildly upset."

Kurenai groaned again. Leave it to Kiba to die because he pissed off the wrong girl.

* * *

Team Seven and Team Nine gaped at Kiba. Shino and Hinata were uncertain as to what was happening.

"He's dead." Ino shook her head. "She's going to murder him, if not now, sometime in the near future."

Shino froze, Ino had said she. Oh, Kiba was in for it now. Hinata came to the same conclusion, and nearly fainted, realizing she had been crushing on a fellow female. "I will not stand in her way," he told them, faintly. Hinata nodded, feeling slightly happier her idol was female. It meant that she really could get stronger!

Temari stared at the fuming kunoichi and thought that maybe it was Gaara she should worry about if he set her off. Kankuro made a mental note to himself that anyone Gaara liked was not to be messed with as they were probably very strong. Gaara was just enjoying the show, not at all worried for his fellow jinchuuriki.

* * *

Naruto was stalking closer to the shocked Inuzuka. "What was that for?" Kiba shouted, not certain which of what he said had set the blond off. It wasn't like he was really a girl!

And then it clicked. Oh, fuck, he was in for it this time. Why hadn't he listened to Kurenai-sensei when she had said to think before he spoke?

"You have five seconds to forfeit before I change my mind about killing you," Naruto snarled, her eyes slightly glowing.

"I forfeit!" Kiba squeaked, not having to think about it at all. He was lucky he had been one of Naruto's friends in the academy; otherwise he wouldn't have survived those comments. The Proctor was looking wearily at the blond kunoichi, before announcing her as winner. There was silence in the crowd, no booing nor cheering. It was Sasuke and Sakura that started clapping. While anticlimactic, Naru could have easily pounded him into the dust, but had chosen to give him a chance to forfeit before going after him.

Kiba wiped the sweat off his face, ignoring Akamaru's snickering whines. The puppy had tried to warn him to shut up numerous times, but Kiba had ignored him. Naru was glaring heatedly at him, and he finally noticed that her hair was longer, and she had a feminine shape to her face.

Sighing, he retreated back up the steps in attempt to get away from the irate, violent kunoichi. Naru glared at him the entire way up, before rejoining Gaara in their spot. Gaara looked at her, and she glared, "Don't say a word."

The redhead smiled, and shook his head. The Kyuubi host sure made things interesting that was for sure.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, this chapter is 4,085 words, and I hope you enjoy every one of those words, cause I finally updated! Ha! I bet you thought I wasn't going to, but I did! I've been updating a lot this summer, haven't I? I decided that it was time to give you chapter four of this fic! Its thirteen pages typed and 26 hand written! Appreciate the work I put behind this, dang it! Appreciate it!**

**Nah, I'm just kidding you. But if you want a update sooner, you should review, please?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Mwahahaha! I'm alive! Sort of! Not really, but hey, at least I updated! **

**Sorry for the wait on this one, I've been beyond busy. School, illnesses, and chronic migraines don't really give me much time to write as I would like! **

**Even now, I'm going to swamped under make up work for missing two weeks of school... Ugh, but during that time, I managed to get this chapter done! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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The entire village had gone nuts, Naruto noted. It seemed with the revelation of her female status, everyone had decided that they needed to stare at her whenever they saw her. Normally, Naruto would be able to ignore the stares, but this was beginning to get unnerving.

Why the hell was it so hard to believe she was female? It wasn't like she'd told them all that she was male! It was almost as if they thought it was her fault that they never noticed.

Kakashi-sensei had begun laughing at anyone would said anything about her status. He'd been one of the few that always known her gender and was finding the entire situation hilarious.

Anko had apologized for not making it in time to help her team when Orochimaru had cornered them. Naruto had tried to assure her that it was alright, but Anko wouldn't hear of it. She was under the impression that giant man-eating tigers shouldn't slow her done any. Naru was surprised that her sister figure would think that way (Seriously, Naru could by one not being a problem, but six? No way that wasn't going to slow anyone down!) but Anko was adamant that it wasn't an excuse.

On the other hand, Naru was getting closer to all of the rookie nine. Kiba had apologized for all of his comments, having thought she was male at the time and that it wouldn't be taken that harshly. Shino looked very amused at his teammate's predicament, and Hinata had stopped fainting whenever she talked to her!

Ino had taken to teaching her the ways of the female, much to Sakura's amusement. It seemed that they were both focused on making sure that she was as feminine as possible, though Naru thought that it was pretty much a lost cause.

Shikamaru still blushed around her, but Naruto knew that was because of the way he'd found out she was a girl. No one wanted to walk in on someone of the opposite gender (at their age) and he would likely be doing that for a while. Choji just found the entire thing amusing beyond belief, and often teased them both for the accident.

Kono had taken the news very well, as he didn't really care about the differences of gender yet. It didn't matter if she was male or female as long as she still played with him. Naruto thought that was the most mature response she'd gotten, which was sad seeing as he was a six year old boy.

Jiji was currently laughing at the council, who was in apparent shock. He'd told her that when they complained about his hiding of her gender, he pointed out that her birth certificate said she was female and that it was their own stupidity that blinded them from seeing the truth. Naruto thought this was very amusing.

Kakashi-sensei had assigned them all different training instructor for the month between the next exam. With Kakashi being the only other person with the Sharingan, he'd been forced to focus on Sasuke, much to Team 7's annoyance. They'd preferred learning as a team to solo training.

Now, Naru had originally been forced to deal with Kono's perverted instructor before he'd been knocked out by a even bigger pervert. Said pervert was now taking a rather painful beating.

"Geeze, kid!" The white haired man groaned. "What did I ever do to you?"

Naru hissed in anger, "You're a peeping tom! What other reason do I need?"

The man really looked at her then, before paling. "Sorry, kid. But really, did you need to beat me into the ground?"

Naru nodded, looking very serious. "This is the only way that perverts learn!"

"Have you ever met a woman named Tsunade?" The man asked very seriously.

Naru shook her head, she'd never heard the name before, though she had the feeling that she should really know it. "Nope, dattebayo!"

The man stared at her with wide eyes, before looking around as if he was searching for something. Naru cocked her head at him in confusion, not sure why her sentence had caused him to react that way.

"What's your name, kid?"

"Uzumaki Naru, dattebayo!" Naru beamed at him. "Everyone calls me Naruto, though."

"Name's Jiraiya," The man grinned at her. "What are you doing here, anyways?"

Naru rolled her eyes. "The super pervert was supposed to teach me for the Chuunin Exams, but that's out, since you knocked him out. Now I'm going to have to find a new teacher!"

Jiraiya rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Whoops, sorry Naruto. I tend to attack people who attack me first."

Naru sighed, not really blaming the guy, though he was still a pervert. "It's fine, I'll just ask Kaka-sensei to find someone else."

"No need!" Jiraiya grinned. "I knocked out your trainer, so I'll just take his place!"

Naruto looked at him, trying to find any hint of deception in the man's face. "You're not joking just to get one up on me, are you? 'Cause if you are, it ain't funny."

Jiraiya looked at her, honestly confused. Just what was this kid talking about? Didn't Sarutobi-sensei tell her about him? Wait, was she still a gennin? Dang, he still had to wait before she was allowed to know who he was! He hadn't expected to run into his goddaughter here, though. It was a good thing she hadn't been in the springs when he was peeping, that would have been embarrassing! "No, I'm being honest."

"You're a Konoha shinobi, right?" Naru narrowed her eyes. "Hokage-jij will know you, right?"

Jiraiya rolled his eyes, "He'd be going senile if he didn't. He was my sensei, after all!"

Naruto's eyes lit up, Sarutobi-jij was this guys sensei? Score! She was totally going to take him up on the training offer! One of the Sannin, asking to train her? No one was going to believe it!

"You got a deal!"

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Jiraiya stared in awe as Naruto conversed with Gamabunta. This really hadn't gone how he was expecting it to. He really hadn't thought that Naru was already conversing with the Kyuubi (or that the Kyuubi's name was Kurama)! Their training sessions where very interesting, however. The fact that Naru summoned Gamabunta on her first try was amazing and Jiraiya felt a distinct pride for his goddaughter.

"Oi, Ero-Sennin! You just going to stand there staring, or are we going to practice something else?"

"Bwahaha!" Gamabunta laughed. "Ero-Sennin? I love this girl! Bwahaha!"

Jiraiya just smiled at the nickname. So much like her mother and father that it was amazing no

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one had made the connection before. It was only a matter of time, however, before a Nara really took a look at her and figured it out. Those lot were lazy, but each one was a genius.

"Yeah, laugh it out!" Jiraiya yelled at his long time companion. "Just wait until she decides on a nickname for you!"

Gamabunta ignored him and continued to laugh, but Naru had a thoughtful expression on her face. Jiraiya grinned, Gamabunta would learn, as everyone else who knew the girl had. If she liked you, you got some sort of nickname. Whether it was humiliating or not.

"Well, gaki, we're going to learn some taijutsu next." Jiraiya grinned as the girl cheered. He was going to make sure that his goddaughter was always prepared for any enemy! Maybe he should search out Tsunade and ask for advice about training females?

After the Chuunin Exam, of course. It would be nice to know that his goddaughter knew who he was.

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Sarutobi chuckled from where he watched the training sessions. He should have known that Jiraiya would be the one to meet the girl first. Tsunade would have been far more vocal in discussing their mutual goddaughter's training and lack of knowledge of who they are.

The rules that the council had decided upon ensured that Naru was left unaware of her heritage until she reach Chuunin, a feat that they hadn't thought was possible.

With the revelation that Naru was in fact female, the council was rather split on what to do. Naru was the daughter of Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato, and she resembled both of them so closely that people where going to start putting together the pieces. The adults of the village had always wondered where the Yondaime had managed to find a child for the sealing and had always assumed that the babe was an orphan. After all, everyone knew that Kushina was pregnant with a little girl, not a boy.

Nara Shikaku had already figured it out, and had gaped at the girl mindlessly after the match between herself and Inuzuka Kiba. It wasn't hard for the man, as he and Minato had been very close. Being close to Minato meant that he was also close to Kushina and could easily recognize their daughter now that he knew he real gender.

So far, Shikaku was the only one the guess the secret that had been plaguing the village for thirteen years. Most pretended that they didn't want to know who Naruto's parents were, but everyone knew they all wanted to know.

Sarutobi was amazed that a simple mistake of gender had been the reason that people had remained unaware of Uzumaki Naru's heritage. She acted just like her mother and was a feminine version of her father! Kakashi had known who she was on sight! Jiraiya had also recognized the girl, and he had never even met her before! How was it that his village was so blind to the truth when they wanted to be?

Sighing, Sarutobi wondered how long it would take before the council decided that telling the girl would be in their best interests? They were currently reading the report of Team 7's first C-Rank mission, which was now classified as A-Rank. Momochi Zabuza had been terrified of the child, after accidently groping her. There was also mentions that Naru hadn't tapped into the Kyuubi's power.

Kushina would be proud, Sarutobi chuckled. The morons on his council were undoubtedly remembering the kunoichi that Uzumaki Kushina had been, and realizing that Naru was just as vicious as her mother before her.

Either way, this exam was bound to be interesting.

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**There! I am finished!**

**I know what you're thinking, two stories update at once? The horror! I'm just bored and I really don't have anything to do tonight. I can't sleep and this was just nagging me, waiting to be written.**

**Now, I'm hungry and I'm going to go eat. **

**Review! It makes author's update more!**


	6. Author's Note

**The Poll is no closed. Really, people, I didn't expect kind of response! *sweatdrops* over 200 votes in two days? Geeze...**

**RESULTS!**

**1.) Sightless Eyes: 92 » 44%**

**2.) The Hands of Death: 43 » 20%**

**3.) Mangetsu Kitsune: 16 » 7%**

**4.) To Right the Wrongs: 15 » 7%**

**5.) Past Appearances: 14 » 6%**

**6.) The Eyes of A Wolf: 13 » 6%**

**7.) Silent Nights: 10 » 4%**

**8.) Savior in the Darkness: 2 » 0%**

**And we have our winner. Sightless Eyes will be the main focus of my writing. Hands of Death is still under rewrite, so that will have the occasional update more often than the others. Wow, not many people like Savior in the Darkness, do they?**

**Anyways, yeah. Thanks of voting! I'll start working on the next chapter of Sightless eyes. Don't worry! There will be updates for the ones that didn't win, just not as much as Sightless Eyes. I usually would continue as I have, but seriously? High School sucks and I really don't have the time to spend on all of them. Summer Break will probably bring more updates for everything, but don't hold your breath until then. **

**You're all Amazing!**

**~MisteryMaiden~**


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